Happy Halloween!

**For last year's post on previous costumes I have made, go (HERE)**

***

This year, only one of my boys wanted me to make his costume.  Which is nice in that I don't get totally burned out on costumes by the time Halloween rolls around and it is actually time to wear them!  

My son decided to go classic this year and be a ghost.  I paid .99 for a basic Simplicity kids costume pattern for the robe and hood, but as usual, didn't bother to follow the instructions for assembly at all. Haha! 

I made it out of bleached muslin and some Halloween "fabric" cheesecloth that I got dirt cheap during a big sale at Joann's.  So, all in all, it was a fast, cheap and easy job...and I LOVE it!  I think it turned out great.  

My son loved it too, and literally looked like a spooky white spectre floating through the parking lot of our church's Trunk-or-Treat.  He rocked that ghost costume!  Which, of course, makes every effort of making homemade Halloween costumes worth every stitch.

Happy Halloween!!

Merry Christmas

Kid Friendly Food (AND Holiday Tradition!): Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Mr. Pie didn't bring a lot of Christmas traditions to our family when we got married, which was hard for me, because I come from a big family full of tradition.  Games and movies and outings and recipes...there was so much I wanted to bring from my Christmas experience to our family!

 

But in the beginning, I felt like I really needed to scale back because: 

 

A) Mr. Pie didn't seem to really get into Christmas, and

 

B) I felt like I would be steam-rolling right over him if I bombarded him with all the things I wanted to bring over from my family. 

 

So really, until we had kids, our Christmases were rather quiet.

 

However, there was one tradition he did bring... Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.

Every year, the one thing that did seem to make him happy during the holiday season was the package of Chocolate Crinkle Cookies that usually arrived either from his mom or his sister.

 

According to my husband, they were his grandfather's favorite cookie, and his grandmother would make them every Christmas.

 

Eventually, the packages stopped being sent from his mother, and the responsibility of carrying on this one tradition for my husband fell to me.

 

Well, this is definitely a Christmas Tradition I can get behind!

 

But what's even better is that I now have three little boys who like to help/watch me make "Daddy's Special Christmas Cookies", as they are otherwise known at our house.

And I have a feeling these cookies will become a strong Christmas tradition for them in the years to come.  And that makes me happy.

 

 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
(recipe taken from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book)

1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 c. sugar
1 T. vanilla
4 eggs
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
powdered sugar

In large bowl, mix oil, chocolate, granulated sugar and vanilla. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover; refrigerate at least 3 hours. 

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray. 

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat and shape into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake 10 minutes. You want them to still be slightly soft in the center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Tips:

 

Although it says to just drop the dough into the powdered sugar, I actually roll the dough into a ball before rolling in the sugar.

 

I also bake these only for 10 minutes.  I have found if they are baked longer they will dry out more quickly. 

 

Enjoy!

Christmas Time Is Here

Christmas is just about here, and before it is time to pack up all the decorations once again, I thought I would post a little photo tour of the Cocoa Pie Christmas House 2012:

Snowmen
Here is our little snowman collection.  It started with just the blue snowman candle holder, which was just a random decoration I had from before I was married.  Over the years we have slowly added to our snowman family.  The newest addition is the little guy in the red scarf perched on top of the original blue candle holder snowman.

 

Santas

This is one of two Santa vignettes I have set out.  My favorite is the big Santa, which is new to our house this year.

 

Here is a look at the entire set up, including some countdown blocks that one of my best friends made for me last year, as well as the advent book that she made for me this year, and the paper covered barn star I made this year:

 

 

 

Nativities

For a long time, these little mini nativities were the only ones I had.  My mom has sent me all of them.  There is a bookstore in Utah, Deseret Book, that usually offers a small nativity for a super cheap price if you buy a certain dollar amount of product.  So my mom will usually buy one for me and my sisters as she does her Christmas shopping there.

 

After 8 years of marriage, I finally bought myself a full-sized nativity set.  I have been wanting one since before I was married, but just never found one that I liked.  This year, especially because the boys are old enough to really start understanding the real reason for Christmas, I knew I needed to get one. 

 

I found this one at Hobby Lobby the first week of September.  I knew from an earlier experience at Hobby Lobby that if I saw something I liked, I needed to get it because they don't restock their seasonal products.  So, I bought it for 50% off and stuck it in my closet until it was time to decorate. 

 

Poor Joseph has already had his hand broken twice.  It made me sad, but with three little boys in the house, what can you do?

 

 

"Mantel" 

And here is a photo of the stockings I made a few months ago actually hung by the fireplace:
 

 

And here is a full view of my weird fireplace.  It's not a mantel.  It's one of those media center nooks that I hate.  I do the best I can, but it is really hard to decorate this weird, stupid nook.

 

 

 

Cupboard

I have a small cupboard in my kitchen that is the perfect place for various decor.  So, my second Santa vignette lives up here during the holidays, including an "Irish" Santa that I found and bought to incorporate Mr. Pie's Irish heritage, along with a Christmas tree cookie jar my mom bought me the year my twins were born while she was visiting over Christmas, some little Santa salt and pepper shakers, a cute tin my sister-in-law sent full of cookies one year, and some "Merry Christmas" blocks my sister gave me a few years ago as a Christmas gift.

 

You can see in the top right corner of the photo the lighted garland that decorates the top of my kitchen cupboards, as well.

 

 

And there you are, a little peek into my home, and some of the things that we call Christmas. 

 

I love to put things up that have a story and meaning behind them.  I guess I am a little sentimental that way, but I like being able to have a happy memory of a person or event every time I unpack these decorations.

 

Now go and have yourselves a merry little Christmas.

Costumes of Halloween Past (and Present!)

In honor of a fun Halloween yesterday, I thought I would do a post of the costumes I have made in the past.

I have always loved dressing up for Halloween.  I have been making my own costumes since I was a teenager. 

I remember one year I was a cat and made my own cat ears out of poster board and crepe paper and a tail out of an old pair of black nylons.  I used lipstick to make my nose pink, and it didn't come all the way off.  I had a pink nose for the whole weekend.

Another year, I altered a long, (really lovely) hippy dress of my moms from the 70's into a Shakespearean gown.  One year a was a Greek Goddess with a handmade laurel wreath in my hair made from a wire coat hanger and tin-foil leaves that I hand cut and glued on, one at a time.

I made a Princess Leia costume one year out of an old bed sheet, cardboard (for the belt) and some cheap silver lame fabric.  That as the first time I ever covered buttons in fabric. I even dyed my blonde hair brown with some "wash-out" hair dye that didn't fully wash out for quite a few days.

And one time, I made a super girl costume with no sewing machine!  I was at college and didn't have access to a sewing machine.  I made the costume out of a long sleeved white t-shirt dyed blue, some felt Superman emblems that I cut out and glued together by hand, and some red costume satin that I made the skirt and cape out of with only a needle and thread and some stitch witchery.

Unfortunately, and don't ask me why, but I have almost no pictures from my Halloween Past!

Then I went through a phase where I didn't really have a reason to dress up.  So I didn't.

Once I had kids however, that changed, and I could embrace my love for dress-up once more!  And this time, I took pictures.

 

Here are a few of the Halloween costumes I have made in more recent years:

 

Angel and her Devils -2009

 

This was the twins first Halloween (2009).  I bought the red shirts and sweat pants, and made the devil hats and tails out of red cotton and black satin. 

 

I also made my angel costume, but unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of it, so you can;t see the whole thing.  It was a semi-sheer white fabric top with flowing sleeves, and a white, silver glittered satin skirt underneath.  I made the ties out of a star-patterned, silver lame-type fabric.

 

 

Below are the boys "official" Halloween pics from that year.  You can see the devil tail in the second one:

 

 

The following year (2010) I had just given birth to my third son, so I didn't make any costumes, although I did have to alter their store-bought ones, since they were a little too big.

 

2011 my boys were obsessed with pirates.  I decided to make their pirate costumes, rather than buy them.  Then I got the brilliant idea to make my youngest son a parrot:

 

 

 Pirate A & Baby Parrot - 2011

(This is the best photo I have of a pirate and the parrot together.  My boys were barely one and not-quite three at the time, so rounding them up for a group photo was pretty much impossible!)

THIS year (2012), my boys all wanted to be Superheroes.  Bummer.  I'm not even going to bother making Superhero costumes when you can get cool(cheap!) ones at the store.  However, that didn't stop me from some Halloween sewing!

 

My boys decided I was going to be a witch.  I figured, I will probably be a witch more than once more in my life, as it is a pretty great go-to costume, however uninspired it may seem.  So I decided to make a good, sturdy basic costume that will last me forever.

 

(You can read about the actual construction of the dress HERE )

 

 

The (Not-So) Wicked Witch - 2012

 

I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  We did!

 

As for me, it is now time to get serious about my Christmas projects. 



Witchy Woman

I finished my Halloween costume last night.  And here she is, my son-requested witch dress!

 

 

 It might not look like much yet, but I am wearing a black vinyl corset over it, which makes a big difference in the look.  This piece is just the under-dress.

I was inspired by this pin, which is actually a SCA costume piece.  I figured for a witch, I could make it all raggedy, like it had once been a nice dress, but has been worn waaaay too long.  In a swamp.  With all kinds of yucky witch-brew ingredients spilled on it.

I used Butterick pattern 3906.

Here are a few detail pictures:



I ragged up the bottoms of the sleeves.  I'm debating whether I should do the same thing to the very bottom of the dress.




I sewed the ruffle onto the outside of the skirt to give it more visual interest.

 

I put the black bias tape elastic casings on the outside of the sleeve, again, just to add a little more interest.  The casings were the most time consuming part of this really simple project!

 

I am pretty happy with how it has turned out so far.  I'll be honest though, I initially wanted to do a lot more with this costume, mainly adding a tie-on bustle.  I still might, but I have a lot of other projects I want/need to get to, so I'm thinking I am going to call this one done.  For now.

I made this dress with the idea of being able to use it for years and years.  And I have plenty of fabric left in case I decide to add to it next year, or whenever I decide to wear it again.

The fun part is that I can continue adding to this costume as much, and for as long as I want.

And of course, I will post pictures of the full costume all put together after Halloween!

Halloween Barn Star

I finished a non-sewing project this week.  Say hello to my newest piece of Halloween decor!

 

 

I would explain how I did it, but there are so many tutorials online (just google "paper covered barn star tutorial"), I felt that would just be redundant.  These really are so simple to make, you almost don't even need a tutorial!

 

I found some papier mache barn stars online for cheap, so I ordered a couple.  Then I got the paper for 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  So in other words, this project is really budget friendly!

 

This is my first attempt at embellishing a barn star, and it was a good learning experience, as far as working with a papier mache base, rather than a metal one. 

 

I used Mod Podge for the entire project here, but I think next time, I will either spray it with a matte clear coat to finish it, or use a spray adhesive to stick the papers on, or both. 

 

I think the two layers of Mod Podge (one layer to stick the papers on, and one layer to seal it) was a little too much for the paper base, because I noticed after the top coat dried, the arms of the star started bowing out a little bit.  It is not noticeable looking at it, but I could definitely feel it.

 

I had initially thought I would add some sort of ribbon or other embellishment, but in the end, I didn't like the way it looked.  I felt like it made the star way too "cutesy" for Halloween decor.  So I left it plain, and I like it.

 

Next I am going to make a Christmas one.

 

 

For those who don't know, I actually worked at a Scrapbook store for a year while my husband was gone on a 15-month deployment, so I have a little bit of history in paper crafting.  (In fact, my former boss at the scrapbook store, Rita, has a darling website, Pink Polka Dot Creations.  You really should go check her out!) 

 

 And I have to say, I actually loved working with paper again! It's been awhile since I have, and it made me happy to play with it again.  So don't be surprised if you see some more paper crafting pop up on my blog a bit more, cause I have a few more things I'd like to try in the near future!

 

But until then, happy crafting!

 

(Linking to these parties:)
 

  

WiP #21

Yay!  I have a finish this week! 

I finished my Halloween Table Topper over the weekend. 

 

 

I actually have the top made for a smaller version, as well as one lone 9-patch block that I think I may turn into a pot holder.  I am in desperate need of pot holders!

 

 

 

 

I also went through my stash and pulled out and pressed 10 fat quarters to start the baby quilt for my cousin's baby girl who is due within the next 2 months or so!  I pulled pretty much all the lavender, aqua and light blues from Amy Butler's Love line.  I am going to follow the Sliced Coins Quilt Along over at Don't Call Me Betsy for the pattern.  I think it will be an awesome little quilt for a special little girl :)

 

 

And this week, I even have a non-sewing project that I am starting!

 

 

 

I ordered these papier mache barn stars last week and they arrived.  My plan is to paint them, cover them with various holiday papers, and hang them on my wall for some cute, thrifty decor. 

 

However, I didn't realize that I ordered the 3D stars, rather than the flat backed ones.  So, instead of sending them back and exchanging them (and paying twice the amount for the flat backed ones!), I thought I would see if I could just cut them in half.  It worked great, but now I have twice as many stars as I need!  Ha ha, I guess I know what I will be making for gifts this Christmas.

 

Here are the stats:

 

 

WiP's finished - 1

Halloween Table Topper 

 

New WiP's started - 1

"Love" baby quilt

 

WiP's worked on - 1

"Love" baby quilt

 

WiP's NOT worked on: 6

*ONE Key fob to finish

*ONE dress to finish

Swoon mini quilt

Denim Rag Quilt

Star Baby Quilt

Couch pillows

 

On the back burner/not started yet: 3

Bed quilt (Swoon) (fabric purchased)

Secret gift #1 (fabric purchased)

Secret gift #2

 

Possibilities/ Idea Phase: 1

Patriotic mini/wall quilt

Total = 11

Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced



 

99 Problems...But At Least It's Done (Halloween Table Topper)

Resting under a bowl with the cute toilet paper pumpkins my twins made last year in preschool.  I love how I can mix my projects with theirs for some awesome seasonal decor!

This poor little Halloween Table Topper.

 

It all started out so promising.  In fact, I  couldn't see any problems occurring with this sweet, little thing.

 

My inspiration was this sweet little doll quilt I saw in the October 2012 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

 

 

I really love the Primitive look for Halloween, even though I don't actually have anything primitive in my own Halloween decor yet!  So the quilts in this photo just spoke to me.

 

I knew I wanted to make a bigger table topper size quilt for mine, even though the little dolly-sized one is super cute.  So I made mine from 2.5 inch squares.  Maybe my next one will be made from 1-inch squares.

The top came together quickly and easily.  Basting was a cinch.  I did some straight line quilting in the center that I whipped out in minutes.

 

Then I pulled out my new free motion quilting foot.

Ugh.

Problem #1

This is the first time I have tried out the Bernina Stitch Regulator.  And while it does make my stitches more even (which is totally awesome), it is definitely going to take some getting used to!

Up until now, I have Free-Motion Quilted with a darning foot, controlling the speed with both the foot pedal, and by how quickly I move the fabric under the needle.  That took practice, but I got the hang of it. 

With the Stitch Regulator foot, the ONLY thing that controls the stitching is your movement of the fabric.  The foot pedal does nothing but "turn it on", if you will.  You can floor the pedal, but if you aren't moving the fabric, nothing happens.  It's not until you start steering your fabric under the foot that you get any stitching.

So, after years of muscle memory built up doing the "old-style" way of FMQ, you can imagine how clumsy I felt trying to figure out quilting this guy with my new foot.

Problem #2

One thing that would have helped is if I would have stuck to a design I know and love (and am good at!) - regular old stippling.  But NOOOOO...I had to get all fancy on myself and try something new.  Of course, never taking into account that using the new, automated foot could give me any sort of grief, I went for it.  Not.  Good.
 

 

 

I know it's hard to see in this photo, but it's the best one I could get of the quilting.  I tried the design called "Jester's Hat".  Even though I was getting a better handle on the design after I figured out a few of my other issues and tried loosening up on the design, I would still hate for anyone to look too closely at my FMQ job on this one!

 

This picture also shows my Problem #3:

 

I used black thread on top, and a matching, light yellow thread on bottom.  Yeah, shouldn't have done that.  As you can see, the black thread pulled through to the bottom, and in places, the yellow thread showed through to the top.  However, I was able to fix that once I solved Problem #4, which I will reveal in a moment.

 

As far as the thread issue, after I was finished and complaining to my sister, she said I should have used mono filament thread.  She is right.  And I didn't even think about it, because I have never used it before to quilt.  Live and learn, right?

You can see a little of the yellow thread peeking through the top in this photo.

Problem #4

 

Again with what I thought was a tension issue, I was getting seriously frustrated.  My husband's Aunt was visiting while I was struggling with the quilting of this poor little thing, and was trying to help me figure out what the problem could be.  Among many suggestions, she mentioned adjusting the pressure foot as a possible solution. 

 

Duh!   It immediately dawned on me that that was, in fact, the issue.

 

Part of the direction when sewing with the Stitch Regulator foot on is to adjust the pressure foot height to a certain range, and I had totally forgotten to do that.  And unlike most other functions on my machine, she didn't remind me to do it once I started sewing, either. 

 

Bad, Mathilde!  BAD!

 

(But I forgave her.  It wasn't her fault  Why should she have to remind me every time I make a mistake?)

 

Anyway, even after figuring out all my problems the best I could,  I never quite got a handle on this seemingly simple little project.  Even the binding made me unhappy! 

 

Problem #99

 

Not really a problem, but I really wish I would have cut the binding on the bias.  By the time I got to the binding, I just wanted the thing done, and since I technically didn't need to do bias binding (no curves), I didn't.  But I notice it in how straight the rows of polka dots are.  If I had cut it on the bias, I think the dots would have appeared a lot more random on the binding, which would have looked better. 

 

Le sigh.  Oh, well. I still love it in the end, and I suppose that is all that matters, right?

 

Linking up:

 

Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie

WiP #20 - Christmas/Halloween Mash-Up

So I did it, I finally finished my Christmas Stockings!
 

 

Kinda.

 

You can read all about them right HERE.

 

Also, I worked on my Halloween Table Topper which may now become a temporary wall hanging until I can get my Swoon mini quilted.

 

 

 

 

I like the primitive look for Halloween decor, and thought this 9 patch kindof fit that vibe.

And I even had enough blocks left over to make a real mini quilt at the same time.  I might keep it, or I may give it away.  We'll see.

 

I also briefly worked on a Pillow cover for my couch.  But I don't like how I started quilting it, so I have tear out the stitches and start over.

 

 

WiP's finished - 3

 

Christmas Stockings 

New WiP's started - 0

 

WiP's worked on - 2

Halloween Table Toppers

One couch pillow

 

WiP's NOT worked on: 5

 

*ONE Key fob to finish

*ONE dress to finish

Swoon mini quilt

Denim Rag Quilt

Star Baby Quilt

 

On the back burner/not started yet: 4

Bed quilt (Swoon) (fabric purchased)

Secret gift #1 (fabric purchased)

Secret gift #2

Baby quilt for Baby Girl Barker (fabric and pattern selected)

Possibilities/ Idea Phase: 2

- dress, matching doll dress, and doll quilt for my niece for Christmas

Patriotic mini/wall quilt

Total = 11

 

Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced

Hang the Stockings

My cute son showing off his new Christmas Stocking

 

May I just start by saying how happy these stockings make me? Mr. Pie and I have been married for 8 years and, especially in the beginning because of deployments, rarely had a Christmas at home, or together. So I never really bothered doing a lot of decorating, even though I LOVE Christmas, and LOVE decorating for the Holiday.

 

 Let's just put it this way, I am the daughter of the guy that the neighborhood nicknamed "Clark Griswold". That should tell you something about how big Christmas was for me growing up.

 

I had a small hodgepodge of random, mismatched Christmas decor from my pre-married life that had mostly been given to me, and that had no real sentimental meaning to me. I would just kindof throw it up on the mantel and walls to make some kind of effort to decorate for Christmas, but it never really did much for me.

 

 Of course, then the twins were born, and my husband got a new assignment that kept him home a lot more.  I started thinking more about traditions, and making memories, especially around Christmastime, and I knew I wanted to do some things that would make our home a cozy, wonderful place during the Holidays where we could grow those memories and traditions.

And for me, part of that was making some special Stockings that the boys would see and use every year.  They are young enough that these will be the stockings they will always know and remember.  And I hope that will mean something to them one day.  

 

(Click on any of the above photos to see a larger image)
 

This year, I will be able to put my Tree Skirt under the tree and hang those very Stockings up above the fireplace. And that makes my heart happy.

***
 

Now, on to the actual making of the Stockings!

 

The past two or three weeks have been hectic here in the Cocoa Pie household.  School starting, with meetings and school shopping, church responsibilities, and birthdays to bake cakes for have made my free time a lot more scares than usual.

 

Hence, I feel like I have been working on these Christmas Stockings FOR EVER.  It didn't help that I ended up re-embroidering new cuffs because my first "prototype" was embroidered on the wrong side of the cuff. 

 

Or that I ended up wasting some time looking for some different fabric for the lining before just deciding to use some that I already had...and ended up loving it, of course.



Red lining

White lining

 But they are finished.  Well, at least three of them are finished.  The most important ones.  The ones that Santa actually pays attention to and fills up with goodies on Christmas Eve.  My three boys stockings.

 

I have every intention on making two more for Mom and Dad.  In fact they are practically ready to finish.  the Stockings are sewn, the linings are sewn, the hangers are sewn.  I just have to make and embroider the cuffs.  But I decided I needed a break from Stockings and will wait to embroider them when I have other things to embroider.

 

These Stockings were inspired by This Tutorial, however, the only thing that is really the same is the strippy piecing.  After that point, I basically abandoned the tutorial and went off on my own.

 

The things I did differently:

 

- I actually quilted the pieced panels onto batting (In the tutorial, she just has you put decorative stitching on the fabric panel without stitching it to batting.)

 

-I adhered fusible fleece onto the back stocking piece and to one half of the cuff before folding it in half.

 

-I interfaced the stocking hanger with some featherweight interfacing and topstitched both sides.

 

-I (obviously) embroidered my sons names on the cuffs.

 

-I topstitched the inside top edge of the stocking to keep the lining down.

 

 

Things I would do differently next time:

 

-My biggest mistake?  I didn't wash the cuff fabric before embroidering their names on.  I didn't think about it until after when I was spraying it to remove my pen marks.  When the fabric got wet around the embroidery, the fabric rippled and it was hard to press it back into shape.  I can only imagine what will happen if I actually have to wash the stockings!

 

-I would try a fusible stabilizer to do the embroidery.  Even with the tear-away stabilizer doubled, I don;t think it was quite thick enough for the embroidery.  I don't know if that was because I was using metallic thread, or if it was because I had pre-cut the cuff fabric to size before hooping it, and it didn't quite fit entirely in the hoop. 

Linking to:

One Thing, One Week Challenge @ Amy's Creative Side

Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie (for some reason, the button wouldn't work!)

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story